Naftathoughts: Lingering doubts about the economic and cultural benefits of the North American Free Trade Agreements. Namenesia: Inexplicably forgetting the name of someone you know very well. Nanachronym: Those instantly ubiquitous internet and texting abbreviations; Narceclessia: A sleep disorder that afflicts modern Christians causing cultural detachment and irrelevance in times of grave societal danger; the church asleep in the light. Nefariography: A biography of …
The Good, the True, and the Beautiful
Mark Twain once defined a literary classic as “a book which people praise but don’t read.” Fortunately, Joseph Malaby Dent, founder of J. M. Dent & Sons, never took that quip to heart. Over the course of his career he probably did more than any other single individual to inculcate a popular appreciation for the classics—his Everyman’s Library editions, provided …
M Logomorphs
Maastwrecked: The mess that the European Economic Community and the New World Order have made of Europe. Machiavalium: Political narcotics dispensed in an effort to control the people. Macjob: A mindless, tasteless, and valueless task undertaken merely for money. Maledictaphobia: A fear of saying anything offensive or negative even in the face of dire wickedness. Mirthgirth: All that extra weight gained over the holidays. Monkeythump: A …
The Birken’ead Drill
On this day in 1852, one of the worst naval disasters in modern history occurred in the shark infested waters of the South Atlantic. The British troopship Birkenhead struck a rock shelf just off the coast of South Africa. The decrepit wood-hulled vessel carried the famed regiment of the 78th Highlanders, Scottish warriors who had distinguished themselves in every imperial scrap from the Napoleonic Wars …
Just Weird
“God gives us a Francis Schaeffer and all too many of us grow up to act like Franky. God gives us a Gordon Clark and we end up being like John Robbins. God gives us a Dooyeweerd and we end up just being weird.” Ben House
L Logomorphs
Legalossolalia: The strangely unintelligable “tongues” spoken only by lawyers. Libnet: The symbiotic network of fringe-left media, academia, and government that infests Washington’s corridors of power. Limbaughtomy: The surgical removal of welfare-state piffle, drivel, and swill; performed by transmitted airwaves. Litegeist: The substantivelessness of American pop culture. Lithurgy: The wholesale denigration of tradition, glory, and substance in modern evangelical worship; the malady of lethargic liturgy. …
K Logomorphs
Kahootenany: Reposting un-Snopesed silliness on the internet. Kanoodledoodle: Whiling the hours away on sundry social media sites. Kantankerosity: The inclination to argue about anything, to snark about everything. Kavorked: To be on the receiving end of legalized euthanasia. Kerfufflefluffle: A fierce controversy over nothing; a mountain out of a molehill; majoring on the minors and minoring on the majors. Keypal: An internet friend; a thoroughly modern …
Carver at Tuskegee
On this day in 1896 George Washington Carver, a recent graduate of Iowa State College of Agriculture and Mechanical Arts, now Iowa State University, accepted an invitation from Booker T. Washington to head the agricultural department at Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute for Negroes, now Tuskegee University. During a tenure that lasted nearly 50 years, Carver elevated the …
J Logomorphs
Jabberjockey: Radio talk show host. Jargonauts: The elites who steer the course of our language; logogogues. Jaundaucracy: A culture devoid of courage; a society led by men without chests. Jeopardous: Risky business; hazardous behavior. Jiggywidget: A faddish doo-dad or dig-bat or thingamajig. Jiterati: A subset of the cultural elite; the professional whiners and worriers. Jocosiation: A ridiculous or hilarious assocation. Journalying: The tendency of modern journalists to …
I Logomorphs
Ideolatry: The idolatrous worship of ideology. Iducation: The self-centered psychologicalization of modern secular education. IMglish: The special abbreviated, acronymic language of instant messaging, sms, and texting: omg, lol, bff, btw, cya, galgal, igbok, etc. Impuritan: The modern ethical paradox: the new morality of immorality. Indignatary: A culturo-political celebrity who has built a career and a reputation on feigned moral outrage. Infobahn: The web’s information super-highway. …
H Logomorphs
Heretickle: Popular falsehoods that are happily accommodated for the sake of church growth. Heterodoctor: A thoroughly modern and politically-correct university professor. Hillarious: A silly, shallow, superfluous, and statisfucating worldview. Histonarcolepsy: Sleep-walking through history. Historectomy: The surgical removal of any historical perspective from contemporary discussions. Hollywired: The marriage of the computer and entertainment industries. Homodoxy: The new homosexual orthodoxy taught in America’s schools Homophilia: Trendy depravity. Homotextuality: The …
G Logomorphs
Gadaboutag: An orphan HTML tag that’s misdirects your web searches. Garpage: The editorial page of virtually all daily metropolitan newspapers; often useful, however, for the bottoms of bird cages. Generica: The smothering uniformity of pop American culture. Giraffiti: Vandalism spray-painted very, very high on a bridge or a building. Gleemail: Those inspirational emails forwarded by a friend or coworker that may or may …
F Logomorphs
Fascinate: Enthusiasm for consolidating all of society and culture into the hands of Big Government and Big Business—the tell-tale signs of Mercantilism (aka National Socialism). Fascindustrialism: Cooperative monopolization between the public and private sectors; “It’s the economy, stupid.” Fauxment: An artificial controversy; the stock and trade of TV news. Fauxpolitiks: The dismal reduction of political discourse to the trite, the picayune, and the …
Even More E Logomorphs
Empty-Vee: The vapid contentlessness and valuelessness of current TV programming. Environmentia: A worldview dominated by whatever the latest ideological rant may be. Errstats: Lies, damned lies, and statistics. Establishmentality: The inability to think beyond accepted institutional/ideological parameters. Ethoplegic: A malady that suddenly paralyzes the ethical scruples of elected officials once they arrive in Washington. Europa Nervosa: A condition resulting from the geo-political instability of Europe. Europhoria: The ecstatic …
E Logomorphs
Ecclesiophobia: An inordinate fear of anything and everything to do with the church or people from the church actually getting involved in our communities. Ecnalubma: A rescue vehicle which can only be seen in the rearview mirror. Ecologian: A theologian whose worldview is dominated by the world. Ecominous: The doomsaying vision of pessimistic economists. Econausea: One possible side-effect of an over-exposure to sundry …